What You Make It
by RosePhoenix
Summary: When John is injured in a training accident he is forced to return to Earth for treatment.
1. Logical Thought

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of it's characters. I claim all rights to characters of my creation including but not limited to Marion and Billy.

A/N-Story set-up: This is set in a slightly future universe where nobody is trapped in Wraith ships or missing or presumed dead. Atlantis has the power to make a gate trip back to earth, but just barely and would only use it in a dire emergency. Thus, the Daedalus is still their closest contact with earth.

A/N2 This is my first venture into the Stargate universe. If anybody is interested in being my beta I'd appreciate it.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time, it really had. After all the Athosians were official allies now, and had proven themselves capable and willing to defend their new home. To John the next logical step had been to teach them how to do that in the most effective way possible. Rodney would probably have told him that was where the plan had started to go wrong, with the attempt of logical thought.

It had been a sunny day, average temperature, and they'd found a clear field a safe distance from the Athosian's settlement. He'd taken six Marines, and paired them with six Athosians who Teyla had handpicked, four men and two women. They'd covered basic safety, then set up targets at the far end of the clearing and begun practicing. John and Teyla had looked on as the Marines coached their students, both of them proud of their respective people.

He'd turned to say something to her, he couldn't remember what, because a second later it had been lost in blinding pain that radiated out from his thigh and paralyzed the rest of his body. All John remembered was being picked up and carried to the jumper. Then, vaguely, as though they weren't his own, screams as one of the Marines dug his fingers into the wound and pinched the femoral artery shut.

He'd woken up two day later to Elizabeth's sympathy face and known it was bad. Carson tried to tell him he was lucky to still be alive, that with a gunshot wound like that he could have bled to death in as little as seven minutes, but John didn't feel lucky. A year long recovery, that was what he'd finally dragged out of the Scottish doctor, a year long recovery that required physical therapy and still didn't guarantee he'd regain full use of his leg.

In her office Elizabeth tapped her pen against her lip. It was a habit she'd developed in high school. She'd thought she'd broken it, but it had resurfaced early in the Atlantis expedition, and she'd decided she liked the familiarity of it, of knowing no matter where she was, or what she was doing there, that key elements of herself were always the same.

"Dr. Weir?" a hesitant voice broke through her thoughts. The pen stilled and she looked up to see her chief medical doctor standing in the doorway.

"Yes, Carson?" she waved him to the seat in front of her. She'd been expecting this visit ever since John had woken up.

"I just can't provide the kind of care the Colonel will need," he looked at her like he'd rather be saying anything else, "He'll have to be sent back to the states."

"I know Carson," she admitted, "I've known that since you explained the injury to me. I just didn't want to."

"Aye, I didn't want to believe it myself," he replied.

"So, honestly, what do you think the chance of a full recovery is?"

"Well, he's healthy and relatively young, if he does his physical therapy properly I see no reason why they aren't very good."

"How long before he'll need to begin the physical therapy?"

"Well, it'll be 4-12 weeks before he can put any weight on the leg, he'll have to do some exercises to keep the limb from atrophy, and to prevent blood clots in the meantime. I can oversee those, but after that I've not got the knowledge or expertise that's needed."

"We board the Daedalus for the annual briefing in two weeks," she said, thinking out load, "Another eighteen days to earth, that puts it at approximately five weeks, will that be acceptable?"

"I'd like to get him to a specialist as soon as possible," Carson frowned, "but it's not worth the power required to gate back to earth. I don't see much of a choice really."

"No, I suppose not," Elizabeth replied. She began to unconsciously tap the pen again. "Thank-you Carson. I'll be in to speak with Colonel Sheppard soon"

------

Marion tapped her pen against her lip, lost in thought. The monthly expenditure list for the shelter was sitting in front of her, and it was going to put them several thousand dollars in the red if she didn't come up with something. Though the shelter had been open for three years it had just started to gain a reputation and they'd had five women, four who had children, arrive in the last two months, a new record, and a huge strain on the budget. Her start-up money from her aunt had long ago dried up and they now depended on government grants and donations. A little money came from Billy's horse training, but not nearly enough to keep them afloat.

She jumped as somebody tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up into the smirking face of Billy Henderson, her right hand at the shelter, who obviously thought it was hilarious that she'd completely missed the fact that a telephone had been ringing just across the room

"It's your aunt," he told her as she snatched it from his hand.

"Oh my God, Aunt 'Lizabeth!" she exclaimed as she recognized the voice on the other end, her irritation with Billy completely forgotten.

"Surprise," Elizabeth laughed. She'd always been particularly fond of Marion, and it was nice to know somebody was so happy to get a phone call from her.

"Where are you?" Marion demanded. She'd gotten a couple of tapes from her aunt in the last few years, sent a few of her own back, but had not had direct contact.

"Colorado. I'm in town for a week."

"A week?" Marion couldn't help but whine, "That's not very long. Am I even going to get to see you?"

"Actually that's why I called. I have a favor to ask.

"Anything," the answer came without thought.

Elizabeth chuckled. "You may come to regret that."

Marion frowned a little at her aunt's tone, but didn't hesitate. "So I'll regret it."

------

Elizabeth looked around the hotel room she'd rented in Colorado Springs. She'd convinced General Landry that after three days of briefings there was no reason for her to remain on base for the rest of her minimal leave. She had a special issue cell phone in case of emergency, but that was it.

John lay on the bed idly flipping through channels. He'd left his room claiming restlessness a half-hour before. She wasn't sure how watching TV in her room was any different than watching TV in his own since he didn't seem all that interested in conversation, but she'd just left him to it. The last month had become increasingly awkward. She'd kept trying to assure him that there would still be a place for him in Atlantis once he returned to active duty, but he remained apathetic. Elizabeth was almost relieved when she heard a knock at her door.


	2. Going On

Disclaimer: See chapter one's disclaimer.

A/N Chapters should be getting longer, but I won't have time to post this weekend so I wanted to get this out. Thank-you to all of those who reviewed. And thank-you to Herb Weiss, the brother of my sometimes beta(although she hasn't beta'd this so don't blame her), for the medical info. Although there isn't any in the chapter.

Marion gave her light brown hair one final fluff before she knocked. Today it had decided to curl. She'd pulled the top half of it back, but it was still slightly wild. At least the spring weather was still cool enough that humidity hadn't turned it into a huge ball of frizz. She'd already made sure her low cut white tank-top hadn't slipped down _too_ far, and made sure her pants were sitting on her hips properly, instead of sagging and creating any bulges.

Usually she didn't really care, but it had been a long time since she'd seen her aunt, and she was meeting a stranger on top of it. He'd see her in her pajamas without any make-up or sleep soon enough. There was no need to scare him yet.

After a few seconds the door opened. Before Marion could even get a peek inside Elizabeth had closed the door behind her.

"You okay Aunt 'Lizabeth?" she frowned as her aunt sagged against the wall

"Compared to what?" Marion just continued to look at her and Elizabeth sighed. She could tell she'd confused her niece so she straightened and stepped forward to give her a hug.

"You look like you escaped something," Marion said, her voice slightly muffled by being pressed into the taller woman's shoulder.

"Just complete and utter boredom," Elizabeth informed her as she stepped back, "I thought I was just going to scream if he kept staring at the t.v. like I wasn't even there."

Marion raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, oh, it's not like that," Elizabeth rushed to assure her, "He just got bored in his room."

"And came to stare at the t.v. in your room," Marion mused, "Yeah, I believe you."

"Let's go," Elizabeth gave her mock glare and pushed her down the hall. Marion laughed.

"So there's really nothing going on between the two of you?"

"That, young lady, would be highly inappropriate," her aunt informed her, "and even if it wasn't there wouldn't be anything _going on _between us. He's far too charming for his own good."

"One of those?" Marion rolled her eyes.

"I don't think he does it intentionally," Elizabeth offered, "if that helps."

"They never mean it," Marion shook her head, "That's the problem." Marion had had her fair share of run ins with players, and learned the hard way that while some of them might be good friends, Billy for example, anything more was a short road to a long heartache. "But you trust him."

"Yes," she answered even though it hadn't been a question, "I wouldn't ask you for this if I didn't."

"And I wouldn't let him anywhere near my shelter."

"Is that going well? You sounded a little stressed in your last tape."

"Well, we've finally started to get a reputation." Marion shrugged. They stopped at the elevator and Elizabeth pressed the down button.

"You make that sound like a bad thing."

"Just means there's more bills to pay. Also means the husbands can find out where we are. I had to take out a restraining order last month."

"I don't suppose my worrying about your safety is going to make you stop?"

"Sorry."

"Sometimes I think you enjoy telling these guys off a little too much," Elizabeth noted as they stepped onto to elevator.

"God gave me a strong voice, a family who let me use it, and enough hardship I could empathize with others. And yeah, I do get a thrill from speaking my mind. There are worse things."

"And there are safer things."

"Says the woman who negotiated in the Middle East," Marion snorted.

"Yes, and I had my knee broken," Elizabeth reminded her. The elevator stopped at the lobby and as they stepped out Marion turned to face her aunt.

"What am I supposed to do?" she demanded, "Just sit there and watch when I know there's something I can do? Isn't that why you kept working even after you were held hostage? Isn't that why you're out of the country for a year at a time? Because you believe in something?" Marion looked into her aunt's green eyes, saw herself reflected back in them, slightly wild, and though she didn't want to admit, desperately wanting her approval.

"Marion," Elizabeth reached out a hand to lay on her nieces shoulder, "What's wrong?"

"I guess I'm just tired," Marion rubbed a hand over her face. It was true. She'd driven twelve hours the day before and gotten up at seven this morning in order to make it the rest of the way into Colorado Springs at a decent hour. And she was probably coming off of her caffeine buzz from earlier. That always made her a little emotional.

"Do you want to get a room and get some sleep? We can always go out for dinner."

"No," Marion shook her head, "I just need coffee. I saw a Starbucks on the way here. I thought Seattle was the only place with one on every corner."

"Starbucks?" Elizabeth wrinkled her nose.

"Trust me," Marion took her arm and led her out of the hotel, "Their lattes may suck, but their blended frappachinos are to die for."

They were out to Marion's truckbefore she realized that she'd forgotten about her soon to be guest.

"You can meet him tonight," Elizabeth turned her back around before she could even speak, "This is girl time. And it's on me."

"Did I ever tell you I love you?"

"Get in the truck," Elizabeth laughed.


End file.
